Builders of stone walls and stone structures such as pillars and columns have been around as long as man and stone have shared the Earth. These architects have developed a variety of methods for building their stone memorials, many of which have been standing for thousands of years. The tools most common to the trade are a simple hammer and square, and with these two tools, stone masons have erected monuments such as the Pyramids.
The necessity for the present invention of a mason's width gauge arose when the inventor was asked by a client to build a freestanding fieldstone wall thirty feet long and seven feet high. Ordinarily, such a wall would be built according to the prior art, wherein plumb bobs and lines would be set up as guides enabling the mason to build his wall from both sides.
But in this case, the inventor was asked to build the wall only three inches from a neighbor's boundary fence, making it impossible to work on one side of the wall facing the neighbor's property. The inventor, being a perfectionist, was not willing to settle for anything less than a wall that was perfectly plumb on both sides. The problem with the neighbor's fence challenged him to solve it and build a plumb wall on both sides while working from only one.
Perplexed by the problem facing him, he noticed his framing square laying on the ground, so he decided to use two simple framing squares. He shortened the long vertical leg of the ninety degree angle, then attached the two squares together to the desired width of the wall to be built. This is based upon the simple geometric principle declared by Euclid sometime between 450 and 374 B.C.E. stating that a straight line continues forever.
The boundary fence three inches away did not prevent him from laying four solid eight-inch concrete blocks and making them plumb at the four corners of the freestanding wall he was about to build. He set them in mortar, and plumbed each one using a conventional level. He then attached four horizontal lines to a simple device called a line block which enables a mason to attach the line to the concrete blocks.
The line blocks with attached lines were placed on the four concrete blocks, with one line extending from the bottom of each block, and on the top of each block horizontally, giving him a guide for the bottom of the stone as well as the top, making the first course of stone plumb. Using this method, he was able to establish the first one-foot course of stone on both sides of the freestanding wall about to be built.
After the first course was plumb, and applying the principle that a straight line continues forever, the inventor used his modified combination of the framing squares with the shorter vertical leg on one (back) side; and he was able to build his wall perfectly plumb on both sides to the desired height in the following manner.
The long leg of the device is held against the already plumb first course of stone, and the mason then sets a course of stone opposite the long vertical leg on the side with the short leg, bringing the stone over to the short leg, plumbing it by eye as closely as possible, then checking to assure it is plumb using the long vertical leg extending below the newly laid second course of stone to the previously plumb first course. The first course was plumbed using the prior art of concrete blocks and lines, by holding the long leg flush with the first course of stone, allowing the mason to align the second course vertically with the first.
The short leg allows the mason to freely move the invention around the wall without the hindrance of using two squares attached to each other with two long legs. The short leg is one aspect of novelty which distinguishes this invention from prior art.
Having successfully built his freestanding wall seven feet high and thirty feet long perfectly plumb, and having received a new job to build a two-feet square pillar seven feet tall; the inventor then tested his invention with pillars. He made a simple wooden template using two-by-four lumber and attached it to form a square template with the inside dimension measuring two feet by two feet.
The inventor then laid the first one-foot course of stone inside the wooden template, and using a conventional level, plumbed the first course of stone as he did with the free standing wall, and built the pillar without any difficulty whatsoever. The prior art for pillars consisted of setting up an approximately square structure over the site where the pillar was to be erected, then dropping plumb lines with plumb bobs from that structure to the four corners of the pillar.
In the prior art, the plumb lines were attached to the first course of stone which had been set without the line. These lines enabled the mason to build the pillar without the continual checking with the conventional two foot and four foot level which skilled masons normally use. Not having to check with a level repeatedly for each course of stone speeds up building the pillar. The prior art structure built above the pillar site typically consisted of conventional staging made of pipe frames attached to each other using brackets, which suspended the plumb lines to the four corners of the pillar, but which were obstacles for the mason.
These obstacles require the mason to duck and walk in and out of the structure, coupled with his inability to place all the stone he needs for building the pillar close by, and easily accessible, without having to walk in and out of the structure needed to hold the plumb lines. Typically a mason will place all his stone on the ground around him in such a way that he can see all the faces that he wants facing out on the four sides of the pillar. Staging and other such structures prove to be a hindrance and an obstacle imposing a limitation on the mason's ability to build a plumb pillar easily and comfortably, without having any accidents such as banging his head against the structure supporting the plumb lines or tripping over things.
The present invention, a unique application of the square used by masons for centuries, eliminates all these problems and allows the mason free and easy movement, thus increasing his speed building the pillar or wall. This tool literally cut off several days of painstaking labor required to build a freestanding wall or pillar. The device eliminates the need to move lines up or down to their desired position repeatedly throughout the construction of a wall, saving the mason much time and effort.
It is an object of the present invention, to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
It is a further object of the present invention, to provide a tool assembly which can be adjusted to fit most thicknesses or dimensions of walls or pillars being constructed by a mason.
It is still yet a further object of the present invention to provide a mason's tool for the construction of a stone wall or pillar without the continuous need of plumb lines and guidelines or always checking the structure with a level.